E. Yu. Chepel

"Zhelaiushchie prinesti dary po blagochestiiu s drevnikh vremen': Chastnye pozhertvovaniia na khramovye prazdniki v greko–rimskom Egipte [‘Those who want to donate out of piety from ancient times’: Private gifts for temple festivals in Greco-Roman Egypt]

The article addresses the problem of organisation and financing of religious festivals in Egypt in Ptolemaic and Roman periods. Temple rituals as part of festivals included besides public processions also food and drinks as sacrificial offerings to the gods. The festival calendars of the time attest to more than 150 festival days per year. The article offers an analysis of Greek papyrus documents that contain evidence about private donations to the temples and traces the link between them and temple festivals. It is concluded that private donations were an important phenomenon for religious and social life of Egypt during that time.

Keywords:
Ancient Egyptian temples, Greco-Roman Egypt, Ancient Egyptian festivals, financing of temples, private donations.

Original language — Russian.

DOI: 10.24412/2686-9276-2023-00017.

Referring: Chepel E. Yu. ‘Those who want to donate out of piety from ancient times’: Private gifts for temple festivals in Greco-Roman Egypt [in Russian] // Egypt and neighbouring countries 4 (2023):  62–71. DOI: 10.24412/2686-9276-2023-00017.

Read full article